Marine Matters
International Efforts to Protect Marine Biodiversity Through
Marine Wilderness Preservation in the Northwest Atlantic (New England)
Christopher J. Zeman
Fisheries Program Counsel and New England Field Representative, American Oceans
Campaign;
czeman@americanoceans.org
J.H. Martin Willison
School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax,
Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3J5;
willison@is.dal.ca
Abstract
Currently, marine diversity on the continental shelf in the Gulf of Maine has minimal protection
from commercial activities. Last year, numerous environmental organizations, scientists, and
other concerned citizens proposed a 20 by 178 nautical-mile marine protected area in the Gulf of
Maine and Georges Bank ("Gulf of Maine") along the United States-Canadian international
boundary (the "Hague line") to protect marine diversity. The marine protected area, the Gulf of
Maine International Ocean Wilderness ("International Ocean Wilderness"), would straddle the
Hague line ten miles on each side as it passes through the Gulf of Maine. The International
Ocean Wilderness would include large portions of the five major habitat types that are representative
of the Gulf of Maine and protect these areas from extractive fishing and non-fishing industrial
activities. If designated, the International Ocean Wilderness would comprise only 6.2% of
the total area in the Gulf of Maine, leaving most of it open to existing industrial activities. The
International Ocean Wilderness would serve four principal functions: (1) preserving marine
diversity; (2) preserving large areas of the five major habitat types; (3) protecting cultural and
historical artifacts; and (4) providing control areas for future benthic ecological study. The
International Ocean Wilderness would also provide the following incidental benefits: (1) enhancing
important benthic fisheries, notably the scallop fishery, by leaving a subpopulation to grow to
advanced adult ages at which egg production is much greater than by adults at average time of
harvest in the present fishery; (2) protecting sensitive essential fish habitats from the effects of
bottom-tending mobile gears; (3) providing a precautionary buffer from the effects of overfishing;
and (4) providing a buffer zone along the Hague line to facilitate enforcement of this international
boundary.